Anyone in the market for a midsize car? I was.

[Peacock]

Easy driving is the key to clutch life. My car was owned by an elderly couple. They kept meticulous records of everything. Including every tank of fuel that the car has had!!

I have worked at Richmond Honda since '04. Now called Wetzel Honda.

 

[RollingsFarms]

On the inside, the Prius (standard model) has almost identical space as compared to the Camry. That is why it is considered a mid-size. Perhaps your Mom likes those cars with larger exteriors? My dad liked the 98 Oldsmobile's, the bigger the better for him. He used to haul a 24 ft. camping trailer around with his.

My wife has a Prius, I have a new Corolla and a Tacoma Pre-Runner. The Corolla does not strike me as being a small car but I suppose it is compared to a lot of them.

She likes cars with large trunks and tons of storage. The Camry fit this need perfectly as it has one of the largest trucks in the class, and it's useable space as well, it doesn't go deep towards the back where you have to pretty much crawl in the trunk to reach or place anything. Alot of cars are guilty of claiming to have large trunk space but it's not useable space. Her mother (my grandmother) was a Corolla fan, owned 4 of them that I remember. All were great cars that ran and ran and ran. I remember my mother claiming that the Carolla was too small for her so that's why I didn't bother looking at it. I wish they would stick the 2.5 in the Carolla. That would be a ride!

 

[RollingsFarms]

I'm not too impressed with any Camry in the last 10 years or so. They just got kinda cheap in the details. The '13 Accord is an incredible car!

We owned an '09 Malibu that had a couple of issues. Aside from that the car is just too cramped for a family.

My own personal '95 Accord has 301k on it with all original struts, ball joints, tie rods and even clutch.

I agree. The bean counters have put the clamps on manufacturers and sacrificed quality for cost. I think the 2012 Camry (7th gen) is the best Camry Toyota has put out since the 5th generation. The 6th was a dissapointment to most but it still ended up being the best selling car out there. A bad Camry is still better then a good domestic I guess. My biggest complaint besides the quality of the 08 Malibu was there was no leg room in the front of the car. What I mean is your knees hit the center stack and you couldn't relax your leg at all when driving. It just felt so much smaller and cramped inside compared to the Camry and Accord and others. Not to mention it's a fat car weighing 500+ more then a Camry or Accord and the gas mileage suffers because of it. Like I said, I really thought domestics had closed the gap on foreign cars because I hadn't kept up with it in a few years. Boy was I wrong!

 

[TripleR]

My daughter has owned several Accords, Sequoias, two Suburbans, two Forerunners, Mercedez AMG and BMW Five Series and some I forget. A few months ago bought a Camry, she really likes it. My wife would only buy a Camry until the last one and got an Avalon which is essentially a Camry. The Accord is no doubt a nice car, we just tend to get Camrys.

 

[RollingsFarms]

My daughter has owned several Accords, Sequoias, two Suburbans, two Forerunners, Mercedez AMG and BMW Five Series and some I forget. A few months ago bought a Camry, she really likes it. My wife would only buy a Camry until the last one and got an Avalon which is essentially a Camry. The Accord is no doubt a nice car, we just tend to get Camrys.

My family lean heavily towards Lexus, Audi, Toyota and the new Jeep Cherokee. My mother never bought a foreign car until I got her this Camry. I think I hit a homerun with her. The new Avalon has a LOT of the Lexus is350(I think that's the right model) in it.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Easy driving is the key to clutch life. My car was owned by an elderly couple.

I have worked at Richmond Honda since '04. Now called Wetzel Honda.

I have driven a stick all my life but only owned two, that truck and a 86 Escort. I will never have another. Just to tough pulling boats and stuff I do.


I bought the 96 Civic new in 95. It was my first new car. Only keep it 2 years then I got the truck itch again.

Chris

 

[crazyal]

I can't say I've ever had a bad Toyota. I'm trying to decide right now if I should replace my 2000 Tundra with a newer one. It would just be to get the larger 5.7 engine. Since it's a backup vehicle is doesn't get a lot of miles so either truck will be one I hold onto for 15 years or more. Because of where I live awd is a must. Toyota doesn't like to put it in their sedans, you need to move up to the Lexus line to get it. Because of that I went with a Subaru, it's not nearly as nice of a car though. Toyotas are just more thought. I'm thinking about replacing the Subaru with the Rav4.

 

[tractorshopper]

Just bought the Fusion and love it. I can get 34mpg if I baby it. Big step up from the Durango it's replacing for my wife. Now the Durango sits parked most of the time and we fight over who's driving the Fusion when we go places together. (I have an F-150 Lariat for my everyday driver and that's the one we used to fight over). Looked at some of the others mentioned here, but the Fusion seemed to fit us better. Funny thing is that we weren't even considering a Fusion when we started looking. Just happened to come across it as an option proposed by our Ford dealer. We liked it enough that it went straight to the front for us.

 

[RollingsFarms]

Just bought the Fusion and love it. I can get 34mpg if I baby it. Big step up from the Durango it's replacing for my wife. Now the Durango sits parked most of the time and we fight over who's driving the Fusion when we go places together. (I have an F-150 Lariat for my everyday driver and that's the one we used to fight over). Looked at some of the others mentioned here, but the Fusion seemed to fit us better. Funny thing is that we weren't even considering a Fusion when we started looking. Just happened to come across it as an option proposed by our Ford dealer. We liked it enough that it went straight to the front for us.

I would have loved to have given one a serious look too but as mentioned, my local Ford dealers are terrible and have been for a long time. The Fusion has been getting solid reviews and it continues to make improvements in the right direction. Which engine and package did you end up getting?

 

[3v0]

Maybe she should have kept the Crown Victoria ?